Coiner

“ It is Alfred's silver penny struck in London mint. The character of a coinage is quite conclusive evidence in national history, and there is no great empire in progress, but tells its story in beautiful coins. Here in Alfred's penny, a round coin with L.O.N.D.I.N.I.A. struck on it, you have just the same beauty of design, the same enigmatical arrangement of letters, as in the early inscription, which it is "the pride of my life" to have discovered at Venice. ”

“ Coining of Gold.—If the question should now be asked you, "What denomination of gold money of the United States has been most largely coined since the establishment of the Mint in 1792?" you would probably say, "The gold dollar, of course." The answer would be wrong—very wrong. Less than twenty million gold dollars in all have been struck, and their coinage has been entirely discontinued for nearly ten years. If, on the other hand, the question should be asked, "Which denomination of gold money has been coined most sparingly?" ”

“ All the coins that have figured prominently in history are in some shape or other among us still. Twenty-four hundred years of active use are needed to wear out a coin completely. How long will it last with moderate use, and with intervals of lying buried for hundreds of years, as much of the coinage of antiquity now extant in its original condition has done? We have among us the rings, bolts, chains bracelets, drinking-vessels, and vases that glitter in the narratives of all the chroniclers, and embody the pomp and luxury of all the ages. ”

“ I send you by Colonel Franks three coins of gold, silver and copper, which you will perceive to be perfect medals; and I can assure you, from having 90 seen him coin many, that every piece is as perfect as these. There has certainly never yet been seen any coin, in any country, comparable to this. The best workmen in this way, acknowledge that his is like a new art. Coin should always be made in the highest perfection possible, because it is a great guard against the danger of false coinage. ”

“ My friend Monroe promised me he would take care for you in that, or perhaps the establishment of that at New York may have been incompatible with your residence in Philadelphia. A person here has invented a method of coining the French écu of six livres, so as to strike both faces and the edge at one stroke, and makes a coin as beautiful as a medal. No country has ever yet produced such a coin. They are made cheaper, too. As yet, he has only made a few to show the perfection of his manner. I am endeavoring to procure one to send to Congress as a model for their coinage. ”

“ Connexions with Coinage.—From the 7th century B.C. onward, the relations of units of weight have been complicated by the need of the interrelations of gold, silver and copper coinage; and various standards have been derived theoretically from others through the weight of one metal equal in value to a unit of another. That this mode of originating standards was greatly promoted, if not started, by the use of coinage we may see by the rarity of the Persian silver weight (derived from the Assyrian standard) , soon after the introduction of coinage, as shown in the weights of Defenneh (29) . ”

“ After the establishment of the various barbarian kingdoms, each sovereign assumed the privilege of coining, a right which in France was extended to or rather usurped by the principal nobles. [34] In England the king alone coined silver. [35] At present the control of the operations of the mint is completely in the hands of the executive; and, until recently, no question on theoretical grounds as to the propriety of this method has ever been raised. [36]
In close connexion with the right of coining comes the consideration as to the proper persons to bear the expense of the process. ”

“ Let the charge of coinage be fairly reckoned; and the kingdom informed of it, as well as of the price of copper. Let the coin be as well and deeply stamped as it ought. Let the metal be as pure as can consist to have it rightly coined (wherein I am wholly ignorant) and the bulk as large as that of king Charles II. And let this club of ten gentlemen give their joint security to receive all the coins they issue out for seven or ten years, and return gold and silver without any defalcation. ”

“ Walsh will read the proceedings of yesterday's school, he will see how free coinage fixes the commercial value of silver.
"In the free coinage' of silver as money, the effect is not to increase its exchange value, but to give a permanent and fixed value."
MONEY AS A SCIENCE
"We are now dealing with money as a science, and, strictly speaking, nothing is money except that commodity which has been selected to be money. It is a common thing for us to refer to National Bank notes, greenbacks and other forms of paper money as "money." ”

“ The intention of coinage, for circulation, being to ascertain the quantity of the fine metals in every piece, and not to represent the effigies of the sovereign, we see a manifest difference every where between the impressions struck upon medals, and those of the current coin: in the first, the head is raised, in the last, it is purposely made flat. ”

“ A coin is an excessively hard fact, and should be of just as high interest to the historian as a well-formed skull or any other document. To Englishmen our prehistoric coinage—a national coinage “scarcely if at all inferior to that of contemporary Rome”— [29] ought to possess peculiar and special interest, for it is practically in England alone that early coins have been discovered, and neither Scotland, Wales, nor Ireland can boast of more than very few. ”

“ Various substances have been utilized for the manufacture of token coinage—silver at a lower degree of fineness, copper in different alloys, and nickel. The French term monnaie divisionnaire has much the same meaning; so has the German Scheidemünze. A currency, restricted in amount, but with full legal tender power—such as the Indian rupees and the French 5-franc pieces—is midway between token and standard money. Representative money also bears some analogy to token coinage. ”

“ Let us now suppose a country where the invention of coin is not known, and where a yard of cloth of a certain quality, is commonly sold for 100 grains of either silver or gold, no matter which. The state falls upon the invention of coining, the conveniency of which every body understands. This coinage, I suppose, costs 2 per cent. Coin is introduced, and commodities are ordered to be bought with it. I ask, what effect ought this revolution to produce upon the price of the cloth, according to strict theory, and without taking in any other combination of circumstances? ”

“ To the regarder of externals, genuine and base coin are alike.
How can he know what is inside the basket?
Many are the gold coins made black with smoke,
So that they elude the clutches of greedy thieves;
Many are the copper coins gilded with gold,
And sold as gold to men of slender wits.
We who regard the inside of the world,
We look at the heart and disregard the outside. ”

“ To order that silver and gold coin shall be struck of such denominations as the King shall think fit to appoint; in which the proportion of the metals above determined, shall be constantly observed through every denomination of the coin, until necessity shall make a new general coinage unavoidable. ”

“ In the following March, 1628, a committee was appointed to advise his Majesty concerning the coins, and to observe from time to time all accidents at home and abroad touching coins. Numerous schemes were proposed for the arresting of the process of export. They bear generally two characters— (1) as proposing a change of the ratio; (2) as proposing a differential issue of the silver issue coinage, i.e. coining 4d., 3d., and 2d. silver pieces at a different and higher rate than the larger silver pieces. ”

“ This circumstance serves to connect our coinage with the earliest issues made from the temples, under direction of the priests. The reverse of the coin has a small eagle, nearly hidden by the shield upon its breast. Its left talon holds three arrows, and its right an olive-branch. The distinctive mark of this reverse is the arc of diverging rays of the sun above the head of the eagle. This arc is found with peculiar appropriateness upon a gold coin, since it is a symbol of the old sun-worship, or of Apollo, under whose auspices gold coins were originally issued. ”

“ United States standards.—The system of coinage in the United States since 1873 embraces standard coins of gold, silver, nickel and copper, but gold alone actually furnishes the standards of value, all other coins being at present subsidiary. Gold is coined for individuals free; that is, a certain weight of metal presented at the mint is assayed, to determine the exact weight of pure gold, and an equal weight of pure gold is returned to the owner in coin. ”

“ One of the most useful and creditable transactions of the reign of Edward III. was tho issue of a gold coinage. The coinage of England had till this period consisted of silver, and chiefly in the form of marks and pennies; a mark being two-thirds of a tower pound, the pound not being a real coin, but a pound weight of silver coins. The shilling also was a nominal coin at this time, being the twentieth part of a pound. The penny was the two bundled and fortieth part of a pound, and there were also silver halfpence and farthings ”

“ The person who wishes to undertake the supply of a copper coinage, sets forth, that the superiority of his apparatus and process for coining, enables him to furnish a coinage better and cheaper than can be done by any country or person whatever; that his dies are engraved by the first artist in that line in Europe; that his apparatus for striking the edge at the same blow with the faces, is new, and singularly ingenious; that he coins by a press on a new principle, and worked by a fire-engine, more regularly than can be done by hand ”

“ Coins are a manufactured article quite as much as plate, and are rendered more valuable by being assayed, weighed, and certified. It appears therefore quite proper that those who bring metal to be coined should bear the expense of the coinage, or, in other words, should give up a part of the metal to the mint, thus paying for the service rendered to them in the same manner as those sending letters pay the postal department for their transmission. ”

“ Absence of extreme hardship A new coinage material must not inflict a demonstrably serious hardship on a particular group or industry. The coin machine industry could claim a hardship if new coins did not work in its machines. Cents are used in counting, sorting, and coin-wrapping machines, some toll booths and vending machines, change-maker, parking meters, and cash register dispensers. Any new material cent must be useful in most of the present machines. ”

“ If French coinage should appear too high a price for the interest of other branches of British trade, a question I shall not here determine, let us impose at least as much as to keep our guineas out of the melting pot, and banish all the old coin which throws us into such confusion. ”

“ The total value of silver coins is not to exceed 10 marks, and that of copper and nickel 21/2 marks per head of the population. While the coinage of silver, nickel and copper is reserved to the state, the coinage of gold pieces can be undertaken by the state for the account of private individuals on payment of a fixed charge. ”

“ Since then coinage as an art has always existed in the more advanced societies. The progress of invention, however, does not end with the introduction of the art of coining, since a number of practical questions arise with reference to the best system to be adopted, which for a protracted period present great difficulties to those who are called upon to solve them. One of these, before touched on, is: What is the best shape for coins? ”

“ The nom de plume you have chosen is not good, but you can easily invent a better one.
Lillie.—The introductory paragraph to the Post-office Box of No. 45 explains why your request for exchange is not printed.
O. H. Bruce.—1. The United States government began the coinage of one-cent pieces in 1793. 2. In 1815, none were coined. 3. The last coinage of large one-cent pieces was in 1857. 4. The coinage of two-cent pieces began in 1864, and the last issue was in 1872. 5. The coinage of the nickel five-cent pieces began in 1865. 6. In 1864, both copper and nickel cents were coined. ”

“ Every mark, letter, number and bit of decoration is deeply cut in the metal. Even the "reeding," or roughened edge, is stamped sharply, and we can tell just what the coin is by feeling of it with the finger, even in the dark. This last step finishes the work. The money is made, coined and ready for exchange in the shop and market. Sometimes you may have noticed that coins, like the nickel five-cent and the silver twenty-cent piece, have smooth edges. ”

“ A depreciation of the coinage under his advice, by the issue of black money, an alloy of the standard silver, irritated the whole nation. When told that his new coinage would certainly be recalled, 'That day I shall be hanged,' was his arrogant answer, regarded as a presage of the death which awaited him. ”

“ Should you desire to regain possession of the coin, have the outside pocket made communicating with an inner one on the same side of the coat; when, having shown the right hand unmistakably empty, you produce the coin thence, in a magical manner. ”

“ It is easy to imagine what would be said to a man that would propose to his majesty such a coinage; and it is agreed, that the people of England would not be more alarmed by such a patent, than the people of Ireland are, by the prospect of turning the fifth part of their current coin into brass. ”